Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Wizard of Oz, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Self-Doubt vs. Self-Confidence
Home and Belonging
Good vs. Evil
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
The Cowardly Lion comes to consciousness after a while, and his friends explain what happened. The group proceeds onward in high spirits until they find the yellow brick road and follow it once again. They notice that all of the houses and people’s clothes are green in this land, and they figure they must be getting close to the Emerald City. They have supper and spend the night at the house of a kind man in green, who’s surprised to hear that they want to see the Great Oz. He explains that no one is allowed inside the Wizard’s throne room, and that the Wizard never leaves that room. He also mentions that the Wizard can transform into any shape he wishes. The man believes that Oz can grant the group’s wishes, but he warns them that gaining an audience with the Wizard may be difficult.
Once again, Oz’s color-coded nature reappears, highlighting the themes of home and belonging. It’s clear that everyone here belongs in this land of green, just as Dorothy belongs in the gray world of Kansas back home. The man’s warning about the Wizard of Oz hints that the group’s quest might not be as simple or straightforward as they hope.
Themes
Literary Devices
The next morning, Dorothy and her companions set off along the yellow brick road again, and it isn’t long before they finally reach the Emerald City. The city is surrounded by a high green wall, which is decorated with brilliant emeralds. They pass through the gates and into an antechamber, where they encounter a small green man dressed, of course, in green. The man is shocked when they tell him they wish to see the Wizard of Oz, but he agrees to take them to the Wizard’s palace. He gives each of them a pair of green spectacles which he locks onto their heads with a small chain, explaining that the brilliance of the Emerald City would blind them otherwise. Apparently, everyone in the Emerald City wears these spectacles at all times.
This area’s fixation on green continues, as Dorothy enters a place that seems strange to her but where many other people feel perfectly at home. The green spectacles make the Emerald City seem even stranger, especially as they must be locked onto their heads at all times. This symbolic item immediately associates the Emerald City with sight and perception, implying that not everything might be as it seems here.
Themes
